A Psalm of Life" is a poem written by American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, often subtitled

"What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist".

Composition and publication history[edit]

Longfellow wrote the poem shortly after completing lectures on German writer Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe and was heavily inspired by him. He was also inspired to write it by a heartfelt conversation
he had with friend and fellow professor at Harvard University Cornelius Conway Felton; the two had
spent an evening "talking of matters, which lie near one's soul:–and how to bear one's self doughtily
in Life's battle: and make the best of things".[2] The next day, he wrote "A Psalm of Life". Longfellow
was further inspired by the death of his first wife, Mary Storer Potter, [3] and attempted to convince
himself to have "a heart for any fate".[1]
The poem was first published in the October 1838 issue of The Knickerbocker,[1] though it was
attributed only to "L." Longfellow was promised five dollars for its publication, though he never
received payment.[4] This original publication also included a slightly altered quote from Richard
Crashaw as an epigram: "Life that shall send / A challenge to its end, / And when it comes, say,
'Welcome, friend.'"[5]"A Psalm of Life" and other early poems by Longfellow, including "The Village
Blacksmith" and "The Wreck of the Hesperus", were collected and published as Voices of the
Night in 1839.[6] This volume sold for 75 cents[7] and, by 1842, had gone into six editions.[8]
In the summer of 1838, Longfellow wrote "The Light of Stars", a poem which he called "A Second
Psalm of Life".[9] His 1839 poem inspired by the death of his wife, "Footsteps of Angels", was similarly
referred to as "Voices of the Night: A Third Psalm of Life". [10]Another poem published in Voices of the
Night titled "The Reaper and the Flowers" was originally subtitled "A Psalm of Death". [11]

Analysis[edit]
The poem, written in an ABAB pattern, is meant to inspire its readers to live actively, and neither to
lament the past nor to take the future for granted.[1] The didactic message is underscored by a
vigorous trochaic meter and frequent exclamation.[8] Answering a reader's question about the poem
in 1879, Longfellow himself summarized that the poem was "a transcript of my thoughts and feelings
at the time I wrote, and of the conviction therein expressed, that Life is something more than an idle
dream."[12] Richard Henry Stoddard referred to the theme of the poem as a "lesson of endurance". [13]
Longfellow wrote "A Psalm of Life" at the beginning of a period in which he showed an interest in the
Judaic, particularly strong in the 1840s and 1850s. More specifically, Longfellow looked at the
American versions or American responses to Jewish stories. Most notable in this strain is the poet's
"The Jewish Cemetery at Newport", inspired by the Touro Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island.[14]
Further, the influence of Goethe was noticeable. In 1854, an English acquaintance suggested "A
Psalm of Life" was merely a translation. Longfellow denied this, but admitted he may have had some
inspiration from him as he was writing "at the beginning of my life poetical, when a thousand songs
were ringing in my ears; and doubtless many echoes and suggestions will be found in them. Let the
fact go for what it is worth".[15]

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine—

then still part of Massachusetts—on February 27, 1807, the
second son in a family of eight children. His mother, Zilpah
Wadsworth, was the daughter of a Revolutionary War hero. His
father, Stephen Longfellow, was a prominent Portland lawyer
and later a member of Congress.

Henry was a dreamy boy who loved to read. He heard sailors

speaking Spanish, French and German in the Portland streets
and liked stories set in foreign places: The Arabian Nights,
Robinson Crusoe, and the plays of Shakespeare.

A Psalm of Life: About the Poem

“A Psalm of Life” is an inspiring poem written by the American poet Henry

Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem was first published in the October 1838 issue of
The Knickerbocker or New-York Monthly Magazine, a magazine published in the
New York City.
A psalm is a religious or sacred song or hymn, in particular any of those contained
in the biblical Book of Psalms and used in Christian and Jewish worship. But
here the meaningof “a psalm of life” is a song of life, where the poet glorifies life and
its possibilities. It is an invocation to mankind to follow the path of righteousness,
the right way to live this life. The poem is didactic in tone.
The poem ‘A Psalm of Life’ often takes the subtitle “What the Heart of the Young Man
Said to the Psalmist“. This is very important in suggesting the context of writing this
poem. Here, the speaker (a young man) responds to the Biblical teachings that
this human life is not important and that we are made of dust and eventually return
to dust. So, we may take it as a psalm in response to a psalm.
In the poem, A Psalm of Life, the poet sees life from an optimistic outlook. To him this
life is full of possibilities, as we can achieve higher goals by making the full use of
our time and by working hard, and of course, by keeping faith in the power and
potential of life. He does not have faith in those who hold the pessimistic view of
life. Throughout the entire poem, the poet Longfellow conveys his view of life,
instructs the readers to make the most out of this life, and inspires us to participate
in the work and activity of life.
The poem consists of nine stanzas of four lines. The poem is also lyrical in nature.
Therhyme scheme followed is A B A B, where the last words of the first line and the
third line rhyme, and alternatively the second and the fourth line rhyme in each
stanza.

A Psalm of life: Summary and Line-by-Line Analysis

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
The poem begins with a verb ‘Tell’ in an imperative manner. And the very first
sentence strikes the positive keynote of the poem. It also indicates that the poet is
going to give us some instructions on what this life actually is and how we should
take it. The poet asks us not to tell him in sorrowful verses that life is a hollow and
meaningless dream. Here Longfellow slams the pessimists who sing melancholy
songs, write sad poems, or thinks that nothing can be achieved in this life.
According to the poet, a person who spends all his time sleeping is already dead.
Such worthless examples of life often misguide others. And he assures that life is
not so shady or worthless as it looks like, and it has much more potential than we
think of.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
The second stanza begins with the line, ‘Life is real! Life is earnest!’ This also
conveys the poet’s positive attitude towards life. According to him life is real and
serious, not baseless or useless. So we should not take this life lightly. To him, grave
is not the ultimate goal of life; life does not end with death. He wants to indicate
that our works remain in this world even after our death. He thinks, “Dust thou art,
to dust thou returnest” (You are made of dust, and you will go back to dust after
death) is only spoken of the body and it is not applicable to the soul. So the poet
makes it clear that he believes in the existence of the soul after our death.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
The third stanza of A Psalm of Life is about the ideal way of living. The poet
suggests that neither enjoyment, nor sorrow should be our ultimate aim or way of
life. He means to say that in an ideal life there should be both enjoyment and
sorrow in a balanced way. But that is not crucial. The most important thing is to
work, and work diligently so that we can always be a better-learned, better-skilled
and better-mannered human being with every passing day. The poet in The Psalm
of Life doesn’t want us to waste even a single day. We should crave for going
forward farther each day in our journey of life.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

The fourth stanza of the poem A Psalm of Life is about our responsibilities in this
life, about the work assigned to us. “Art is long, and Time is fleeting” means that the
work given to us is vast and time consuming, but the time is running away fast with
every moment. The poet then says that though our hearts are brave and stout at
other times, we fear death and our heart beats when we realize that Death is
certainly coming our way bit by bit. Longfellow compares this situation of our heart
to the beating of the clothed drums at the funeral marches to the grave. Here he
means to say that we should utilize our limited time span to the fullest instead of
wasting it in the thought of death or other such thing.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
In the above stanza of A Psalm of Life, the poet compares this world to a vast
battlefield where we, the human beings come temporarily in the camps to fight the
battle of our life. So the human beings are compared with troops. The poet urges
us to be a hero in this battle of life, to fight this out bravely and finally win it. In
other words, he wishes us to be successful in life by following the right way of life.
He doesn’t like to see us like the dumb cattle driven by others, with no particular
goal or direction.

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,— act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
In the sixth stanza of the poem A Psalm of life, the poet reminds us of a very
popular quote: “Learn from the past, live in the present, and hope for the future.”
But here the poet instructs us not to trust the future, however pleasant it may
seem, because we often get carried away by the happy dreams about our future
and forget to act in the present. He also tells us to forget the past events, as they
are dead, and they should not haunt us anymore and affect our present action. And
what is crucial is to act in the present, ‘in the living Present!’ We have to follow our
heart, and keep faith in the God overhead.

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
In the seventh stanza of the poem, the poet says that the lives of so many great and
successful men remind us that we can also achieve those heights if we wish and
strive for that. And if we can do that, we would be living forever in our works, in the
hearts of people. Longfellow compares this immortality to leaving footprints on the
sands of time. In other words, we will not be living forever here, but we can leave
our marks on the infinite flow of time through our good work. That would inspire
later generations to follow our way.

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
In the penultimate stanza of A Psalm of life, the poet continues the same theme of
leaving a ‘footprint’ to inspire others to follow. He compares a dejected or wretched
person with a hopeless shipwrecked man sailing over the large sea of life (‘life’s
solemn main’). That person can find the examples set by us, and can gain courage
and hope to move forward.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
In the final four lines of A Psalm of Life, the poet Longfellow asks us to be up at
once and start working. However, the poet here urges us not to mind the
consequences, or, to make our mind prepared for any fate. We must carry on,
reaching great heights, still not leaving. We must learn to labour, to work hard, to
act wisely, and wait for the rewards patiently.

So, going through this poem, we now realize how inspiring and motivating this poem has
been. The poet conveys his message all over the poem. But I feel, the first two lines,
and the very last line of the poem are enough to give an impression of what this
poem is all about: we should not spend our priceless moments sitting idly and
doing nothing, rather we have to work hard towards reaching our goal and to make
the most out of this short life.